Every regime is different, every leader has his own tone and message, and every head coach has his own approach.

I've got to admit I'm struggling to understand what new Dolphins coach Joe Philbin is all about.

Just like his players, I'm feeling Philbin out because its early. But this guy is more complex than Cam Cameron or Tony Sparano, the two coaches I had the honor of covering during my six seasons covering the NFL.

But I have been able to identify the type of young player that Philbin wants to assemble the Dolphins with and cornerback Nolan Carroll is the sample.

Carroll has all the physical attributes to be good. He's smart. He's a hard worker, and he's been consistent in practices THIS CAMP. We'll see if that translates to regular season games.

"We’re excited about him," Philbin said about Carroll, who will likely get tested in the season-opener as the cornerback lined up on Texans Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson. "We believe in the kid. Like his competitive skills. He doesn’t say a whole lot. Comes here to work. Works awful hard. We kind of have that saying (that) we’re looking for an honest days work out of the guys when you come into the building and he certainly fits the bill there in that regard."

So I asked Philbin what's an "honest days work" for this new coaching staff, hoping it would help me understand the type of players this Dolphins team is looking for?

“A guy that come s in a little bit early, gets his [weight] lift in, gets a good meal in, comes to the meetings attentive, sits, listens, takes notes, laughs a little bit, enjoys what he’s doing," Philbin said. "[A guy who] is passionate about what he’s doing, practices hard and learns from the mistakes that he makes in practice.

"We kind of have a philosophy....‘Look, the next step is let’s get into our meetings, let’s correct the mistakes that we made, probably made a couple, we’ve got to get them corrected and just move forward,' " Philbin said about this week's practice, and the preseasons. "Guys that are good honest guys, good teammates, unselfish guys. Not looking for any superheroes or guys with capes on or anything like that. Just guys that like the game, respect the game, come in and give us an honest day.”

Well, here is the Sun-Sentinel's honest day of work covering the Dolphins: